Minister of Power Dullas Alapperuma stated that funds amounting to nearly half of government's allocation for annual salaries are spent on imported fossil fuels to generate electricity. He said both the citizens and authorities need to stop wasteful spending. “We spend nearly Rs. 400 billion a year on fossil fuel imports alone. The total monthly expenditure on public servants is around 72 billion rupees. That is 864 billion a year. Nearly half of the money spent on public service salaries per year is spent on imported fossil fuels to generate electricity. We need to stop this wasteful spending,” he stated yesterday at a meeting of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna at Kamburupitiya in lieu of four years of its establishment. He further brought attention to how 35% of electricity is generated by diesel at present and that Sri Lanka needs to conserve energy in order to move forward. “According to Gotabaya Rajapaksa's policy framework, the goal given to us as the Ministry of Power is to use renewable sources for power generation. It is the politicians’ responsibility to eliminate causes of issues faced by the public,” he concluded.